Gray is not the Answer

I'm going to make a politically charged statement:

You don't have to paint your walls gray!

I know, I know.  It's everywhere.  JoJo paints a lot of her walls gray on her show, as does Christina.  It's everywhere, and gray's demise has been predicted for months.  And yet.......it's still here.

My friend recently listed her house for sale and a stager was brought in who told her to not only paint her walls gray but her beautiful cherry kitchen cabinets as well.  She refused.  Seriously, do people think that gray is the only neutral color?

I get it.  The realtors are trying to present the most neutral home possible, but is it really true that people can't visualize their way past a paint color?

And don't get me wrong; I love gray.  When I was 10 years old it was my favorite color.  I have gray in two of my guest rooms.  One is gray and yellow (mostly yellow), and one is gray and pink.

Duvet cover by Callisto Home

All gray bedding from County Road. Pink pillows with glass bead trim designed by Antonia Korby Design.

And that's my point.  In a world where you can have any color you want, gray is not the answer.  I have decorated more gray on gray rooms than you would believe, but that is because it came at the request of the homeowner. "How about if we add a little yellow in the draperies, because there is some yellow in the painting in this family room?"  "No", was the answer, "I think I'd like some some white draperies with gray embroidery on them." The dining room was already gray and white, as were the living room and kitchen.  That kind of decorating is highly photograph-able, and also has a model home quality, but can get a little boring.  And drab. And lacking much personaltiy, or CHARACTER, as they say on TV.

Roller shades by LuXout

And I get it that gray goes with everything.  Everything. Every color looks good with the right gray.  So please, feel free to use a LOT of color.  Because that is the trend that I'm seeing now. 

I know that I have shown a lot of gray/yellow combinations but I also love gray with red and gray with bright green.

I agree that a technicolor house would be a difficult house to sell.  But if you are going for neutral, there are so many other "colors" to choose from.

In  the end, my friend sold her home for more than her asking price. The buyers said that when they walked through the house for the first time, it just "felt like home"!

Flutter By

Have you noticed the new trend in decor?  It's the butterfly, she's everywhere!  As a strong motif or part of a more varied print, for the most part, the butterfly reads as a floral and therefore could be used in any room in your home.
Here are just a few of the fabrics and wallcoverings we have come across:

Benson, Natural from RM Coco

The embroidery on this is gorgeous.  The background is a linen look fabric.

Flight of Fancy, Lapis from RM Coco

Another embroidery and some of the butterflies are metallic. Cotton sateen ground fabric.

Flight of Fancy, Charcoal from RM Coco

A Lulu DK fabric from Duralee. This is a print, not an embroidery, but it also has some metallic accents

Another colorway of the Lulu DK fabric from Duralee.

Butterfly Garden from Osborne & Little. This photo is from their website.

Deya wall panel from Matthew Williamson. Available through Osborne & Little.  Talk about transforming a wall!

Fabric from Studio G, available through Clarke and Clarke

Formentera sheer fabric from the Deya collection by Matthew Williamson.

We have this fabric in the studio in 2 colorways.  It is so soft and sheer.  The butterflies will surely look like they are fluttering when the wind blows.

Photo from the Osborne & Little website.

Get an "A" in Geometry

Geometry was the only kind of math I did well in.  I've asked other designers about this and many agreed that they were good in Geometry, too.  Not one said they got an "A" in Calculus!  We tend to think in space and shapes.
The geometric embroidery on this fabric was really appealing.  In a room of solid fabrics, it gave us some pattern to work with.

The family room was in really good shape, decoratively speaking.  It just needed the finishing touch of window treatments so we chose to do soft stationary drapery panels with a French pleat header. Some people call it a Euro pleat.  And those corner windows - a matching pair! thank you Mr. Architect! - were going to be a challenge.

My installers did an incredible job, as usual.  They make an installation like this look easy.

I give this project an A+  !!!

Fabric by Kasmir

Drapery hardware by Graber 

Blinds were customer's own

                    Helping clients with design 
                                       is our passion.
                   (and so is a clean desk.  But you'd never
                       know by looking.)

Custom Roman Shade

with a 2 week turnaround?     

Sometimes it all just comes together.   

This wide (over 70") window needed 

light control and privacy.   

Our RMCoco fabric "Frolic" in cream

with a 3" band in celadon green  

gave it a personalized touch and blended the room 

colors together perfectly.    

So when the fabrics were in stock and the workroom 

didn't have much backlog, our client got a happy phone call to schedule installation  

within 2 weeks of her order!   

PS  The wall paint color is Sherwin-Williams' Agreeable Gray #7029.   

A Fabric Valentine just for you. . .

 

Duralee Crypton Woven Jacquard

in Poppy Red

Vern Yip Trend Collection 

Kate Spade New York Trim

in 

Triple Dot Maraschino! 

Vervain Zenato from the Phoenician collection 

comes in 14 colors.   See the heart pattern?  

Winter Musings

All this winter weather has us thinking about getting away. . .  

Do these palm trees 🌴🌴make you want to take off for the Caribbean or Hawaii?  

Or perhaps a jaunt to their place of inspiration,  New York City? 🍎  

Vervain does it again with a fabulous collection with fabrics inspired by 

The New York Botanical Garden

 Our tropical Austrian Linen above is called Musa Paradis 

and is shown in Aqua Citrine.  

To see the whole collection: 

  https://www.vervain.com/search?413455aeb5104b7d9bd1547a6431ff44

We can imagine sophisticated sunroom draperies or office or 

fabulous and restful bedding in a bedroom. . . what would you create? 

Click this link to see the New York Botanical Garden website:  https://www.nybg.org

Our Arch Nemesis

Palladian Windows

                     gorgeous in their symmetry, deceptively difficult to dress.

Enter the PALLADIAN SHELF!  It holds the blind or shade when there is no existing support between the window and the arch.   It's a little tricky to measure for it,  but this brace is made of strong, lightweight material that can be used on palladian and other custom window shapes as well as unusually tall windows.   

And we know just the person to install it.

                               Simply gorgeous for the sunroom!                                

Palladian shelf, drapery hardware and woven wood shades by Graber (Pattern: Beachfront, color: Tidepool)

Beachfront is our most popular woven wood pattern.

Drapery panels by Kasmir Fabrics. 

Detail of Kasmir Fabric

  

O.K. You can spot it-- I mean Stop it, now

Stop seeing spots, you say?  We can't help ourselves . . .

J. Crew 

CPK Floral Designs 

CPK Floral Designs

Cindy provided gorgeous floral centerpieces for a recent Wine-Tasting Event at Eddie Merlot's in One Loudoun.   Spot the ribbon...

 J. Crew calf hair boot 

             Duralee spotted-yumminess ready for us to fashion into something for you. . .

This pillow!   

These ottomans?   

Okay,  we really will try to stop now. . .    

More Zebras?

We just can't get enough of animal prints, 

 as you know from our recent post.   

So how about this find in the retail jungle?   

    

A comfortable and gorgeous zebra sofa for the movie theater room and matching animal prints for the walls. . .   

located in the same consignment shop at the same time in one of our favorite local haunts, but in two separate rooms.  We were so thrilled at the spoils of our "hunt"! 

Detail from zebra sectional sofa

Connecticut Blue

If you think choosing a fabric for a project is difficult, try finding a matching solid for lining and facing.

For our upcoming Greenwich, CT project we have two window treatments. Both designs include a colored facing for part of the treatment.  The fabric above, from Charlotte Moss, was easy.  The client wanted something silky and this faux silk in a rich gold color from Maxwell Fabrics was perfect.

And then we went in search of blue.

You may remember this powder room, also located in Connecticut, that we showed a while back:

The Dana Gibson wallpaper had the most delicious, vibrant shade of blue that turned out to be a challenge to match for banding on a white Roman shade we were making for the window.  We ended up using a Dana Gibson trim, because there was no solid blue to be found!

Now we call this particular shade Connecticut Blue, because it is the exact same blue as before.

We are not ones to give up easily!
We found a beautiful cotton sateen that will work perfectly!

This one from RM CoCo.
Want to use Connecticut Blue in your next design? Bring it!

Blue and white fabric from Bailey and Griffin, available through Duralee.
 
 
 

And You Don't Have to Wave at Every Golfer!

Last week's installation in Williamsburg was interesting because it was the first time I'd every designed something "blind".  I was sent the measurements by the homeowner and she chose her fabric from memo samples I sent her.
This is the room I walked into:

 

That trash on the chair is mine! 

 

What a light, bright room with lovely views of the golf course! Which is OK if you are sitting out on the deck, but there was no privacy when you were inside.
The fabric we used was an embroidered linen-look from Duralee.

The sheers were chosen to coordinate with one of the embroidery colors, and were also based on the following phone conversation:
"Are your walls more grey-ish or more yellow-ish?"  "More yellowish."  Talk about your leaps of faith!  I have to say, those sheers were such the perfect color against the walls, I wanted to do back flips.
We used a napped lining which gave the pleats a beautiful roundness:

 The hardware had a bronze finish and we used very simple finials:

And here is the finished design of stationary panels over sheers:

 Isn't that chair in the foreground to die for?  We recovered it at their previous residence.  Feels like I've been working on this room for 10 years.

 And now there is no need to wave to every golfer or neighbor who passes by!
Sheers are from Kasmir.
Decorative drapery rods from Select Hardware.  Traverse rods from Kirsch.
 
 
 

Peacock

There is an incredible swatch floating around the studio with peacocks on it.  It has one of the largest pattern repeats I have ever seen (40" vertical, and 54" horizontal!!)

That's the one from the RM Coco website.
Here's the picture of the swatch in the studio:

So you see, you get two peacocks for the price of one!!
(Wouldn't this be amazing upholstered to the back of a chair!)